Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill is joined by Amin Elhassan — co-host of the Basketball Illuminati and Cinephobe podcasts — to pitch the idea that Dallas deal its superstar point guard depending on how the NBA Draft lottery shakes out. Subscribe to Ball Don’t Lie on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
VINCENT GOODWILL: I have an idea for the Dallas Mavericks. Whenever the draft order is revealed– and assuming they are not in the top four of draft picks, the Dallas Mavericks have a chance to do something that’s not really pretty, but maybe really necessary. You call up whoever has that first pick, and you say, can we get Big Vic for Luka Doncic?
– Oh, wow. Oh, wow.
VINCENT GOODWILL: It’s crazy, but it might be necessary. And the crazy thing is I’m not sure if there are a lot of teams– if San Antonio gets number one pick, you think they’re trading for Luka Doncic? And we’re talking about a top five player. Detroit isn’t trading the top pick for Luka Doncic.
– No, it really depends, Vinny, because, on the one hand, Luka’s a proven commodity, right?
VINCENT GOODWILL: Yep.
– We all feel very optimistic about Victor Wanyama. But at the end the day, he plays in the French League, so the competition ain’t stout. And based on his size and his frame, there is reason– historical reason to believe injuries are going to be an issue for him. Everyone who is past a certain height–
VINCENT GOODWILL: Right, foot problems.
– Yeah, everyone who’s– Porzingis, Gheorghe Muresan, Shaun Bradley, Yao Ming– it has nothing to do with how good they are as players. I just named a very wide variety of players there, but they all had lower extremity problems as a junior. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is another one. Once you pass 7’2″, it gets real iffy, right? That’s one.
The other thing is– look, for Dallas– you’ve been to Dallas. There is, in that town– not in every NBA town but in a town like Dallas, a certain premium for having a white superstar. Victor Wanyama might be just as good as we all think he is. And it still may not be worth it, monetarily, for the Mavericks to give up Luka Doncic because he represents, to them, something that wouldn’t have the same hold or sway in New York or in LA or in Chicago or in Miami.
VINCENT GOODWILL: Yeah.
– There are a lot of cities, of course, who’d love to have them, but the fact that he’s white doesn’t carry the booster that it does in a city like Dallas. Dallas– that’s huge for them.
